This summer, five teen athletes from Haifa - one swimmer and four tennis players - along with two of their coaches, spent a week at the JCCs' Camp Kingswood training for the Maccabi Games and participating in camp activities.

Following was a Shabbat with Boston area host families and a bar-b-que co-hosted by the JCC and Jewish Philanthropies' Boston-Haifa Connection which subsidized the Haifa guests' trip here, and their participation at Kingswood and the Maccabi Games sports competition. After their New England stay, the Haifa team members flew with the Boston athletes to compete in the Games in Dallas.

The visit built on the success of last year's Team Boston-Haifa which, for the first time in Maccabi history, brought together Jewish teens competing under the banner of their US/Israeli sister cities It made its debut last summer during the JCC Maccabi Games, when Boston hosted thousands of athletes from around the US, Israel, and the rest of the world.

Returning for a second year, tennis-playing teen, Ya'ar Felixbrodt, feels the Boston area is becoming a second home. "Everyone has been so kind to us here," he said. "Next summer, I want to come back again, this time as a Camp Kingswood Counselor-in-Training."

To learn more about Boston-Haifa Connection's exchanges, programs and inititives, contact Karen Doryoseph at karend@cjp.org.